Melody
by Fox Moonshadow
Summary: A strange girl in the park catches James's attention. Her and her mice.
1. Mini Piper?

My first non-dabble fic. Hope you enjoy.

"Isn't she just adorable?"

"I don't know, Marge. Looks kind of like one of those ruffians. Might be his kid."

James blinked, backtracking a few steps and looking at the girl standing on a stump in the park. Set in four places around the stump were jars with a dollar sign drawn on them in marker. The girl herself looked to be in her early teens with vibrant copper-hued hair and bright green eyes wearing a green tee with white spots, blue jeans with a rip in the left knee, and a green baseball cap. She was playing an odd looking instrument that James recognized after a few seconds as an ocarina. _"Whoa, mini-Piper."_ James thought, smiling. The girl even had green sneakers (though James could tell they had been colored with a marker). He listened to the music, a nice waltz he'd heard Piper listen to a few times, for a few seconds before walking up and dropping a twenty in the jar nearest him. As he stepped back, considering calling Piper and getting him to come see his little fan, he noticed something moving at the base of the stump.

Slowly, a mouse made its way out of the stump, followed by another, and another. Ten mice stood in front of the gathered crowd, ten more on each side of the stump and James would just bet there were even more on the other side. The mice paired up, then stunned the crowd by standing on there hind-legs and bowing to their partners before waltzing along with the music. James stood motionless for a full minute, mentally counting the money he had in his pocket and deciding to fill the girl's cash jar to the top, before pulling out his camera phone and snapping a picture of the scene, sending it to all the other Rogues with a message to get over to the park, ASAP.

~*~

Len and Mick glanced at each other when their cell phones beeped at the exact same time, informing them they both had a new text message. Opening their phones, their eyes widened slightly at the identical images. "Figure it's another prank?" Mick asked cautiously, remembering the last message he'd received from the infamous Trickster.

"Not this time. He wouldn't risk Piper finding out." Len grunted, snapping his phone shut and grabbing his jacket. "Civilian-wear, don't want to get busted on the way." Mick nodded, grabbing a black shirt with a flame design on it and tugging it on before following Len out.

~*~

Digger groaned lightly, looking at the picture on his phone before standing up and stretching. "Not another bleed'n heart." He mumbled before grabbing a few boomerangs to stuff in his pockets, just in case, and walking out.

~*~

Mark h'med lightly before standing up, flicking his wand to dispatch the small rain cloud he'd been playing around with and walking out the door, already planning on sending a few lightning bolts at James if this was another trick, no matter what Cold said.

~*~

Sam looked up from his newest mirror gun and flipped his phone open, glancing at the sender before stifling a groan. He glanced at the picture and blinked, doing a double-take. Either something really odd had happened to Piper, or he needed to get to the park now. Closing his phone, he double checked that his apartment was locked (didn't want someone to break in again) and faded into the nearby full-length mirror*.

~*~

Piper frowned when his cell phone started playing 'Traveling Soldier', mentally debating over how to punish James for changing his ring tone again, and calmly finished transferring his newly-acquired funds to the Children's Care Center database. Once satisfied, he pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the new message, nearly dropping the phone when he did. "That…can't be right." He muttered, pulling on a coat, then going back to grab a raincoat in case Mark decided he wanted a shower, and rushing to the door. He paused and looked down at the handful of rats gathered at his feet. "Not this time, guys. Need to be a bit less obvious. Rathanial, you're in charge while I'm gone. Gio, Tigerlily, behave. If Rathanial has to tell me you've been bad again, it's the cage for a week." The tan tiger-striped rat had the decency to look abashed, though Giovani just puffed his chest out proudly before being knocked on the back of the head by Rathanial. "Be back soon."

*I read somewhere that the second Mirror Master was the one who vanished into mirrors. If so, just pretend Sam could too.

weather wizard, heat wave, captail cold, james, piper, captain boomerang, melody, hartley, trickster, mirror master


	2. My name is Melody

James looked away from the girl as Len and Mick jogged up behind him, Len wearing a blue shirt and sunglasses and Mick wearing a black shirt with flame trim. The girl was still playing, a more up-beat tune now, and the mice were still dancing in time with the music. It looked a bit like a mini-rave now. Her jars were also mostly full at this point. James signaled for the other Rogues to put in the special ear-plugs Piper had given all of them, suspecting hypnosis. "Did you see any of the others?" He asked once they were close enough.

"Not yet. Our apartment's the closest to the park, though." Mick said, shrugging and looking at the girl. "She really does look just like Piper. Think they're related?"

"Not sure. Possibly. I'm getting mixed signals from her." James said, looking back over the park. He smiled when he saw Digger, Mark, and Sam arrive together, probably met on the way, and signaled for them to put in their ear-plugs.

"Wot's going on, now?" Digger asked, glancing between James and the girl. "You put 'er up ta this?"

"Nope, just stumbled upon her myself a minutes ago. Really something, though, isn't she. Spitting image of our own lovely maestro, right down to the little fluff-balls." James said, putting on Innocent-Face--57™. "Speaking of Piper, here he comes now. Evening, Music Man."

"James. What's going on? Who is that?" Piper asked as he walked up to the other criminals, looking at the girl in a clearance version of his first costume.

"Don't know. We can ask when she finishes playing. Is she using sub-harmonics?" James asked, turning back to the girl as she switched to a slower song. He was mildly surprised to see her glance in their direction.

"Only two, very low-level hypnosis. From the sound of it I'd say we're dealing with an amateur attempt." Piper said, suddenly wondering if he should have brought a few rats with him after all. Oh well, if it came down to it he could always call on a few wild ones.

The group looked up when the girl stopped playing, most of the mice running off when she did, four others climbing up her clothes to sit, two on each shoulder. James idly noted that the mice were wearing collars: one red, one blue, one green, and one yellow. She slowly walked around the stump, collecting her four jars and a green backpack that sat nearby, pouring the money she'd collecting into the backpack and leaving the jars on the stump as she walked over to the Rogues. "Hello. You're the Keystone Rogues, right?" She asked, startling the seven gathered criminals. They'd _thought_ they were well-enough disguised (because there's no way anyone would recognize Trickster in a yellow shirt and blue vest, or Weather Wizard in sunglasses). The girl looked them over, seemingly evaluating them, before turning to Sam. "You're the first Mirror Master, right? Sam Scudder, not Evan."

"Er, right. My name's Sam. Pretty sure I'm the _only_ Mirror Master, though." Sam said, wondering if someone was impersonating him without him knowing.

"Not where I'm from. Wish you were." The girl said, moving on. Her gaze stopped at Mark for a second before moving on to James and Piper. James quickly grabbed Piper's hand when he felt his friend start to shake for some reason. The girl smiled at this before stepping forward to stand directly in front of them. "Hello Father, my name's Melody."

TBC


End file.
